how to clone hdd to usb flash drive

Hi All,

Hope this is the right tread..

A few years back I got some great help here on installing new drive, I have a Lenovo All in one PC and time to upgrade to a bigger drive, has any one done this on an All in one pc, if so how? Last time I did this if I recall I bought the Anker kit but kept getting lots of errors with it and you guys helped me out.
This time I would like to do it with a clone from HDD to USB Flash Drive I have never done this before and would appreciate any help. I am running the New Windows 10 1903 latest update and all is running really well with no issues.
I have backed everything up and got a Usb flash drive, what program do you use to clone??

Any help is much appreciated.. Thanks Len

You can clone your hard drive to another hard drive, creating an exact copy that you can swap in and boot up right away. You cannot clone it USB flash drive that is far as i know of. You can backup image of the hard drive to USB flash drive.

FreeBooter said:

You can clone your hard drive to another hard drive, creating an exact copy that you can swap in and boot up right away. You cannot clone it USB flash drive that is far as i know of. You can backup image of the hard drive to USB flash drive.

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me, how do I do a clone from my old HDD to the new HDD?? I have just tried the old USB Anker kit again and does not see the new drive...I have an all in one pc.. What I thought I could do was take a clone from my pc to the flash drive and then boot up from it to the new drive, is that not possible??

Thanks for any help its much appreciated Len

You can use Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free to clone your HDD to a another HDD.

ltj22 said:

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me, how do I do a clone from my old HDD to the new HDD?? I have just tried the old USB Anker kit again and does not see the new drive...I have an all in one pc.. What I thought I could do was take a clone from my pc to the flash drive and then boot up from it to the new drive, is that not possible??

Thanks for any help its much appreciated Len

Hi there
Not quite true actually

If the partition you need on the HDD is same size or smaller than the USB drive then it can easily be done (but you need to boot any live Linux distro)

Boot the live distro and then insert the two devices

run lsblk and you should see a list containing /dev/sdx etc


ensure the devices say they are /dev/sdc and /dev/sdd - the unmount them (umount /dev/sdc etc)

now carefully type dd if=/dev/sdc of=/dev/sdd

You won't see any output until the job has completed

Cheers
jimbo

ltj22 said:

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me, how do I do a clone from my old HDD to the new HDD?? I have just tried the old USB Anker kit again and does not see the new drive...I have an all in one pc.. What I thought I could do was take a clone from my pc to the flash drive and then boot up from it to the new drive, is that not possible??

Thanks for any help its much appreciated Len

Hi there
Not quite true actually

If the partition you need on the HDD is same size or smaller than the USB drive then it can easily be done (but you need to boot any live Linux distro)

Boot the live distro and then insert the two devices

run lsblk and you should see a list containing /dev/sdx etc


ensure the devices say they are /dev/sdc and /dev/sdd - the unmount them (umount /dev/sdc etc)

now carefully type dd if=/dev/sdc of=/dev/sdd

You won't see any output until the job has completed

Cheers
jimbo

@ltj22 do you want to clone to external hard drive that is connected with USB port?

FreeBooter said:

You can use Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free to clone your HDD to a another HDD.

Hi, Not sure how to do HDD to HDD how do you connect???
Thx Len

https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Enclosu...node=160354011

jimbo45 said:

Hi there
Not quite true actually

If the partition you need on the HDD is same size or smaller than the USB drive then it can easily be done (but you need to boot any live Linux distro)

Boot the live distro and then insert the two devices

run lsblk and you should see a list containing /dev/sdx etc


ensure the devices say they are /dev/sdc and /dev/sdd - the unmount them (umount /dev/sdc etc)

now carefully type dd if=/dev/sdc of=/dev/sdd

You won't see any output until the job has completed

Cheers
jimbo

Hi Jimbo,

You have me there mate, I have never used Linux and do not know the first thing about how to use it..

All I really want to do is get a copy of the WINRE_DRV on the PC it has all the Lenovo stuff on it..I could use an image of Win10 I have download to my other USB stick and install that to the new drive, but I won't get all the Lenovo stuff that is on the recovery drv.. Hope that makes sense..??

Thx Len

- - - Updated - - -

FreeBooter said:

You can clone your hard drive to another hard drive, creating an exact copy that you can swap in and boot up right away. You cannot clone it USB flash drive that is far as i know of. You can backup image of the hard drive to USB flash drive.

Sorry I missed that bit about backup to an image on the USB stick, does that copy the Whole drive and once installed will I be able to roll back to the recovery drv at any time when needed??

Thanks again Len..